This is a very specific campaign for Lawful Evil worshippers of Asmodeus and it excludes a certain style of villain, that's the kind of salient fact I would have liked to know before my purchase.

...snip...

There is a free download available (DriveThruRPG Link, RPGNow Link & Paizo Link) that contains this very information. In general, impulse buys are caveat emptor and subject to the "son of a" reaction :-). I've been burned enough myself on such things that I typically do a search for previews/demos/etc before I throw down cash these days. Whether the Lawful descriptor needs to be added to the product blurb is obviously something for Gary to decide, but I think Fire Mountain Games has provided adequate intel on their products (my opinion being tied to my personal experience of course).

This is a very specific campaign for Lawful Evil worshippers of Asmodeus and it excludes a certain style of villain, that's the kind of salient fact I would have liked to know before my purchase.

...snip...

There is a free download available (DriveThruRPG Link, RPGNow Link & Paizo Link) that contains this very information. In general, impulse buys are caveat emptor and subject to the "son of a" reaction :-). I've been burned enough myself on such things that I typically do a search for previews/demos/etc before I throw down cash these days. Whether the Lawful descriptor needs to be added to the product blurb is obviously something for Gary to decide, but I think Fire Mountain Games has provided adequate intel on their products (my opinion being tied to my personal experience of course).

I doubt the one remaing guard captian will be in town, I'm guessing he's a bit overworked right now, particularly since it is Captain Barhold. But it does mean the monk and possibly the rogue can slaughter the dwarves, possibly some off-duty tower guards as well. Of course, I would not be surprised to see the flame oracle find a way to set the inn ablaze, then have the pc's hide out in the vault overnight. Or at least, that's what I would do.:)

This campaign does not have to focus around worshippers of Asmodeus. We picked that god because he is a popular one, a public domain evil deity and provides a natural reason for the party to hang together. "Way of the Wicked" strives above all else to be the evil campaign that actually works and alas for many that means lawful evil.

However, you can completely downplay or even ignore that aspect without having to change a single encounter. This could simply be a campaign about revenge against Talingarde for very personal reasons.

The danger of doing that, as you rightly point out, is that this opens the door for the campaign to degenerate into a festival of betrayal, bickering and back-biting. But if your players can overcome that, we try to give you the tools to play the game that way. Book Two includes an article discussing alternate ways to play the campaign.

Now with months of play reports under my belt, I think you can run this campaign with a group of chaotic evil characters. Have them swear a blood oath to work together and replace Cardinal Thorn with a demon sent from the abyss to sow chaos and death -- the demon Adrastus.

I believe with that one minor change, you can transform "Way of the Wicked" into a chaotic evil campaign.

Regardless, thanks for checking us out and thanks for taking the time to provide us with feedback. We only get better because of people like you.

To expand on this, how significant an impact would be had on the AP's story without the assumption the PCs are ultimately bound to any supernatural/fiendish higher power? While I agree that starting an evil party off as henchmen in some sinister organization is definitely the way to go to avoid having everyone go ax crazy, a decade in the DM's seat has left me burnt out on the "evil god/archdevil/demon lord cult" brand of evil. I'm hoping that running Way of the Wicked with the henchmen/faction aspect intact but without working for something from the lower planes is possible without derailing or changing the plot from the as-written version too much, as I quite liked what I saw in the free preview.

To expand on this, how significant an impact would be had on the AP's story without the assumption the PCs are ultimately bound to any supernatural/fiendish higher power? While I agree that starting an evil party off as henchmen in some sinister organization is definitely the way to go to avoid having everyone go ax crazy, a decade in the DM's seat has left me burnt out on the "evil god/archdevil/demon lord cult" brand of...

The short answer is 'yes' you could get rid of the religious evil organization without much work.

To explain, we are deep into spoiler country.

Spoiler:

The sinister organization -- the Knot of Thorns -- could be secular without any major changes. There is already an undercurrent of political resentment against Talingarde from the old Barcan regime in the books. Cardinal Thorn's reason for hating the House of Darius could be political. He could be a relative of the deposed noble lineage condemned for treason. Transform Cardinal Thorn from a cleric into a wizard. They burned him at the stake and he survived thanks to his magically granted resistance to fire. He made his way to the Agathium and using his own magic transformed himself into a lich.

You have to convert Cardinal Thorn's statblock from being clerical, but other than that, the majority of the plot now works as a political intrigue.

This is an incredibly good AP. I read the reviews, got interested, read the free preview. And then I was completely hooked, I bought the print version bundle and read the whole pdf yesterday. Awesome. I love the attention to detail, the plot hooks in the gazeteer are incredible. I hope to begin this in a couple of weeks, with a new playing party in a foreign language so its going to be quite an adventure. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for the kind words and I'm glad you're enjoying "Way of the Wicked". And if you do run it, please post play reports. First, I just enjoy reading them. And second, they help the game become better.

If you don't mind me asking, are you going to run the game in Spanish?

Heh, meant to post that under my usual alias of Nostrus. It'll be the weekend at least before I can figure out most of the scripting required and get the time to do it. I've had a quick look through the first book again but I don't know if there is any material that would need to be migrated over as well?

No, spanish is my native tongue. I'm going to run it in English in Berlin with at least a Spanish, a Greek and a Polish players. Actually the part of not having to translate the handout and those things is going to be nice :)

By the way your spanish is quite good :) just a couple of things that are not formally correct but you can certainly express yourself very well.

I hope I don't tread on any toes, but I've started trying to migrate the Book 1 traits to Hero Labs. Obviously I won't release it but if I get it working, would you want to see it Gary?

I did that too. I created a party with Hero Lab and made all the new traits from Book 1. The more you use Hero Lab the easier making things gets. Try finding traits that are similiar and use them as your base.

I have two questions that Gary might be able to answer, both in regard to presenting the campign to my players in German as much as possible.

1) Why are the Knights of the Alerion called that? Who or what is "the Alerion" and why aren't they just "Knights of Alerion"?

2) Would it be possible to get the map of Talingarde without writing on it so I could re-label it in German? And on that not, it would be nice to get the other maps without words and numbers on them so I could enlarge them and print them as floorplans.

Tobias,
Most of the antipaladin's code of conduct still works (especially for neutral evil).

For lawful evil paladins I would update it slight.

- To serve faithfully Asmodeus (or any other LE patron deity) or their master (if you prefer a more secular take)
- To serve your own interests, desires and personal power as long as it doesn't interfere with the wishes of your master.
- To impose the tyranny of your master upon Talingarde
- To punish those who oppose the will of your master
- To avenge those who purged by the so-called forces of good from Talingarde.

First the alerion is a heraldric eagle and medieval beast. Hence 'the' Alerion. Because the alerion and the eagle are more or less synonymous this is the origin of the "to fly with eagles" being used as a term for joining the order (pg. 85 Knot of Thorns).

We're getting into pretty deep background here (certainly not important to any major events of the campaign) but I imagine they are called that because before House Darius was the royal house of Talingarde, they were a small noble house with a long tradition of having paladins amongst their number. The Alerion was the personal heraldry of those paladins (see pg. 84 for the heraldry of the Knights). When House Darius came to power and the knights were elevated to the most important knightly order in the land they kept that heraldry even though these days few really know what it means.

Second,yes we can get you a map with no text. Let me talk to Mike and see about throwing it upon on the web site.

Our Kingmaker group is in book 5 now, and nearing the end, although with Summer Convention season calling me away I don't expect to finish until late June, which means I anticipate beginning this path right after PaizoCon.

I got a roll of Gaming Paper, and am getting started on the prep work - making maps of Branderscar and Balentyne. After that, I have to make maps of the spire from book 2.

Am I forgetting any key locations? I don't think I'll need maps hand-drawn for the test, I can do those with my map tiles, but I want the complex, multi-session locales pre-drawn.

Balentyne has fallen to bugbear hordes. Perhaps it was an omen when the Lord's Dalliance Inn burned to the ground, claiming the lives of the dwarven engineers and their leader, as well as the owner of the inn. Of course, few knew how dire things had become. Barely had an outbreak of cholera been realized then it was discovered that Father Donnagin had been murdered, and his own priests succumbed to infected stew. The priests spoke of three servants, delivering the stew. The same three servants which made their way, rather quickly, through the tower, slaying guardsmen and officers alike. In time, the bugbear horde would find the bodies of Tacitus, dead just mere feet outside of his workshop, the body of Lord Havelyn found dead just outside his bedroom door. The bugears were equally shocked to find the drawbridge of the gatehouse descend to greet them, even as they pushed aside the crushed bodies, as rocks from above had crushed the defenders below.

So, in all:
Lord Havelyn - dead
Magister Tacitus - dead
Captains Barhold, Varning, and Eddarly - dead
Captain Mott - taken to Branderscar
Barnabus and the 10 dwarven engineers - throats slit in the night, bodies left to burn in the inn.
Father Donnagin- dead, killed in his bedchamber, before the stew wrought havoc
Mitran priests - all poisoned
In total, 66 guards killed/out of commission for bugbear attack.
Plus one innkeeper and two random adventurers.
Highlights:
- Except for Lord Havelyn and Captain Barhold, every other individual combat ended within two rounds of starting (a surprise round and the following round). Good iniatives were the rule of the night.
- Tacitus eliminated before he could activate the ice golem.
- Critical hits with Ray of enfeeblement, shocking grasp, and inflict light wounds proved to be the most effective attacks of the night.

Off to Call Forth the Darkness! (in a couple of weeks, going to try being superheros for a couple of weeks).

To be fair, they got exceptionally lucky a couple of times, I thought for sure the commander would slaughter them, but they pulled out the win rather surpisingly. And the whole thing could have been thwarted by one random patrol, but I figured they had earned it, mostly by doing that thing it's hard for veteran players to do: take a chance.

To be fair, they got exceptionally lucky a couple of times, I thought for sure the commander would slaughter them, but they pulled out the win rather surpisingly. And the whole thing could have been thwarted by one random patrol, but I figured they had earned it, mostly by doing that thing it's hard for veteran players to do: take a chance.

Lord Havelyn can be a monster no doubt.

Spoiler:

You know, I think you're right about taking a chance. The first mission is all about the fact that the Nessian Knot is in over their heads. They have been given a mission that is, if one pauses to consider it, insane. A small band of recent prison escapees versus an armed tower of a hundred soldiers and their officers? That's nuts. And yet, they pull it off.

From there on, they have earned the right to be called Thorn's most elite servitors. And by the third book, they are leading armies of evil across the face of Talingarde. Evil, when left unchecked, so rapidly gets out of hand.

And speaking of that, I'm back to working on getting the third book out next week...

When the PCs are staying in Aldencross, if they still have Grumblejack the Ogre with them, just how are they supposed to hide him so that he stays close enough to help with any evil-doing when needed but he doesn't get hunted down by the locals?

Though if you wanted to lure some soldiers out for killing elsewhere, having a wild ogre go on a murderous rampage would be a great lure.

I'm just about to start my game of this, I've read all the way through it and both me and mt players are all really looking forward to it! I'll update you on the ups(and possibly downs)of my villains gaming experience. This is my first evil campaign ever, but my players have always been wanting one. I've got a Deception Witch, a church bombing Alchemist, an Assasain rogue and a family murdering Anti-Paladin. I'm so looking forward to this game!!! I'll be sure to tell you of there villainous feats.

Excellent! The church bombing alchemist sounds like a blast. Ye gods, I am putting the finishing touches on an adventure designed for that character concept!

Regardless, please post updates here. I love to read them.

And have fun being bad!

Eric,

You answer your own question. How do they use Grumblejack? Hopefully creatively.

Yes, it may be difficult to sneak him into town (although with illusion spells -- not impossible. What could be more useful than being followed around by an invisible ogre?) but inside the Watchtower and during night ops -- the ogre is a great tool.

Ultimately, Grumblejack should not replace the PCs. He is just a useful underling and that is as it should be.

I've just played the first session and the best part of it was when the rogue failed on a disable device and when the guard spotted that he'd unshackled himself he did a sneak attack and got a critical hit, killing a guard because he failed his dissable decice check. And, after that they could easily open ALL their shackles beacuse he has a key. Being evil is so good!

Back from recovery/surgery and had the players do a little bit more. They managed to get to Thorn, although it was REAL close with the gods. As the pyromancer learned, fire is very noticeable. They managed to get out of a lot of the fighting so they missed out on xp, but speed was a factor.

To make up for it, during their training period, I had them go chop down some trees. One of the trees had a sap demon (CR 3) in it from Midgard Bestiary. This helped bring them up to what they needed.

My players have finally figured out a balance for healing. While it took a bit of multi-classing and a small gift from the GM (me), it seems to be working out nicely.

To help them out, I added an encounter with a "witch" and her desire to have the corpse of a black dragon shortly after the party completed Thorn's lessons. I liked the idea of giving the party a chance to have earned some items to boost their AC as Gary suggested so the party went into the moors hunting for the inquisitor that hunted them down in the first place. After defeating him and chopping off his head, they encountered a creepy old cannibalistic oracle who offered them a treasure in exchange for the corpse of a dragon. A very young dragon later, they had earned the following item:

Blood Chalice: Constant effect, Aura 30’. Swift action to activate aura (Command word) Grants the Oracle of Bones Revelation - Resist Life (Su): You are treated as an undead creature when you are targeted by positive or negative energy. You are not subject to Turn Undead or Command Undead (or any other effect that specifically targets undead), unless you are actually an undead creature. At 7th level, you receive channel resistance +2. This bonus increases by +2 at 11th and 15th level. Creatures in the radius of the item and attuned to the relic receive the benefits of “resist life”. Being attuned to the relic requires a weekly donation of 1 point of constitution (blood) which is ability damage and which can be healed as such. Further powers are said to be able to be accessed with the proper research and rituals.

When the Anti-paladin hit 4th level, it allowed the party to overcome some of the healing issue that Evil Parties experience due to the lack of channeling positive energy.

The barbarian in the group also took a level of "Life" Oracle (he is heading to rage prophet), so while healing can be complicated and for the most part it is nickel and dime healing (1d6 here, 1d6 there..), it seems to be working so I don't have to worry so much about 15 minute adventuring.

Thought that this might be helpful to other GMs who are finding the lack of healing to be a big problem for their parties.

After escaping from their cell and recruiting grumblejack, the PCs attacked the guard room. They killed both of the guards in the surprise round and carried on downstairs. When they got to the stairs, they listened and heard the two guards. They killed both of those quickly and took their equipment.

After that, they went to Blackerly's office and foun his map and that he'd been stealing from the prison(thanks to a succesful intelligence check from none other than GRUMBLEJACK. Despite having an Alchemist and a Witch). They then went into Blackerly's quarters and found him sleeping. They tortured him for a while and finding out about the equipment and password. And getting very rich from the money!

They then went into the armoury and got kitted out. They then went into the barracks and killed the first two guards immediatley, with a bomb. They stupiddly decided that they were going to punch the last guard to death. They failed and he blew the horn. Summoning four guards and two guard dogs. They killed them but when more came they just fled and escaped through the river. They were chased through the woods with guards on their heels and camped out in a cave overnight(Lashtougue's cave!) and won in a bsttle with Lasthongue and a potrol of guards. They then got the Witch's familiar that led them to the manor.

Hmmm...unfortunately, I don't think this is possible right now. We are getting the POD version up as quickly as we can. And it will once more include the PDF. DriveThruRPG will not allow preorders of Print-on-Demand books because of fluctuating paper prices.

Unfortunately, DriveThruRPG is being a little sluggish getting our PDF up and that is the first step.

I apologize but the only way would be to delay releasing the PDF until the POD is available and I believe that also would be an unpopular move.

So we appreciate your patience and please realize that no one is more anxious to get this out than us.

Hmmm...unfortunately, I don't think this is possible right now. We are getting the POD version up as quickly as we can. And it will once more include the PDF. DriveThruRPG will not allow preorders of Print-on-Demand books because of fluctuating paper prices.

Unfortunately, DriveThruRPG is being a little sluggish getting our PDF up and that is the first step.

I apologize but the only way would be to delay releasing the PDF until the POD is available and I believe that also would be an unpopular move.

So we appreciate your patience and please realize that no one is more anxious to get this out than us.

I guessed that the blood chalice works out to be about the same as the iron circlet. Resist life is a 1st level Oracle of Bones class feature, but the 30ft radius and the need to activate it along with the con point adjust it to about an 8th or 9th level item I figure.

"I have to admit that I’m pretty well blown away by Way of the Wicked (Book One: Knot of Thorns) and that’s saying a lot given my usual suspicions and doubts about running an evil campaign."

"The artwork in Way of the Wicked (Book One: Knot of Thorns) is fresh and striking, and many of the important NPCs are given illustration which can be shared with the players. Likewise, the maps in the adventure are well drawn and beautifully colored, and definitely a great resource for the DM."

"The author really created a great series of four adventures, and set the stage for quite a campaign arc for players to experience the darker side of role-playing."

Now that's awesome service! Mail sent. This really is the best written, best produced and best supported 3rd pary product I've seen for Pathfinder. I hope it makes you enough money that you can continue to put out these amazing prducts.